| What is a stakeholder? Provide examples of stakeholders. | Definition: Stakeholders are those who have stake in the business; the future of the business.
• Stakeholders can be diverse, including owners, customers, suppliers, employees and communities. (Internal and External stakeholders)
• Stakeholder needs and demands can diverge widely, especially in the short term
• Strategic decisions are influenced by stakeholder expectations
• Managers have to be aware who their stakeholders are, what they want, and which have most influence upon their strategies. |
| What are the 5 external stakeholder groups? | External stakeholders can be divided into 5 groups:
1. Economic stakeholders: suppliers, customers, distributors, banks and owners
2. Social/political stakeholders: policy makers, local councils, regulators and government agencies
3. Technological stakeholders: key adopters, standards agencies and ecosystem members (supplying complementary products or services)
4. Community and society stakeholders
5. Internal stakeholders at other global offices |
| What are some examples of mission, vision, and goals of stakeholders? What implications does that have for choice of strategy? | 1. Mission: what organisation is there to do. Why we exist
2. Vision: future the organisation seeks to create
3. Values: core principles it stands for, or manifests
4. Goals, Objectives: specific outcomes to be achieved
Therefore serving the needs of different stakeholders will require different strategies (choices). “Who are we winning for?” |
| What could an example of stakeholder conflicting interests be? | Pursuit of short-term profits may suit shareholders’ portfolios and pay big bonuses to management, but come at the expense of long-term financial health and renewal.
In public services, excellence in specialised services might divert resources from standard services used by the majority (e.g. heart transplants come at the cost of preventative dentistry). |
| What is a key model to use when dealing with stakeholders? | Stakeholder mapping model:
Identifies which stakeholder hold more power, AND care more (pay close attention) to what management does. So managers must see the political landscape, and act in line with it.
The power/attention matrix is useful for:
• Assessing stakeholders (or stakeholder coalitions) for or against strategies.
• Determining who facilitators or blockers of a strategy are likely to be.
• Managers can cultivate potential supporters and building coalitions of supportive stakeholders, and/or keep antagonistic stakeholders appeased, or disempowered, or ‘asleep’.
• This is all part of good strategy (how to win)
Key questions when using stakeholder mapping:
• Whose interests and expectations should the strategy prioritise?
• Who are the key blockers and facilitators of existing or proposed new strategy?
• Will stakeholder positions shift according to the issue/strategy being considered?
• Will the level of interest or power of key stakeholders remain high? Will new ones emerge?
• Can antagonistic stakeholders be strategically diverted or ‘repositioned’? |
